Maintaining Hope
by SleepyShuffle
Summary: Alternate Ending & SPOILERS, Final Fantasy XIII-2. NoelxHope. With events of XIII-2 resolved, the heroes of the paradox have now settled into peaceful routines in their daily lives. However Hope's feelings for Noel still remain and Noel is restless and unable to give up his hunter lifestyle. What will happen when Bhunivelze falls under threat of an old enemy? (temporary title)
1. Prologue

~Prologue~

_"You mean Serah, she saw this vision?"_

_"Yes…and…it killed her"_

Just when I thought I was safe…just when I thought I'd found someone else, someone to rely on, someone who would support me and follow me anywhere if I asked. Someone who would smile at me…someone who would make me feel…less alone.

Yet as I stand and look at you Serah, even though the aqua eyes behind your lids are dead and lifeless, your presence still brings me comfort.

It was Snow's idea to put you inside a crystal coffin, so that you're not forgotten. And it was my idea to put you at the centre of the new world, suspended by the graviton ores we found along the timeline. I thought it wasn't only symbolic but that its what you would've wanted, to stay with the future of humanity, at their very core as proof of what you accomplished.

And it was Hope's idea to build you a monument, similar to a Cathedral where you sleep on inside. It's too bad Lightning restricted access to you because I know that's not something you would have wanted. You'd want everyone to be able to see you, be able to see who saved them was human, just as they are…

Serah what I'm trying to say is you gave me hope. You gave me lots of other things too, your friendship, your support and guidance on our very long and weary journey. We have been through a lot together, hundreds of years to be exact, and not once did I lose faith in you and I never felt a shadow of doubt in your trust. Even the way you smiled made me feel lighter somehow...as if I didn't have to carry any of my burdens alone anymore.

I've only found that type of friendship in a few select people…most of whom died, one in my arms and another at the point of my blade. Each time they die, I feel more alone, my existence seems to become evermore fragile. Every time a friend leaves me, I feel scared and vulnerable, like there's nobody for me to care for anymore…and I feel a stinging sensation in my heart telling me nobody is there to care for me anymore either.

But with you Serah its different, its different because I know you're still here. Not just with your body and I'm not sure about your spirit either…since the passing of Etro I don't know what to believe in anymore…it's difficult to describe but I feel as if the future, this future I am in. It exists in the palms of your hand, I don't mean it literally, I just feel as if its your creation and I know you too well Serah to say that you wouldn't watch over us.

So I could wallow in my grief and self-pity but I know you would lecture me about it if you were still here. Instead I promise to be strong Serah, I'm going to keep that hope you gave me burning strong in my heart and I promise you Serah in all that I do I will never let you down or allow your future to fade.

* * *

_After the launch of Hope's new Cocoon the fated ones of humanities future set about protecting their new home._

_The one known as Lightning now controls central administration of the new Republic of Bhunivelze and commands her own personally trained military guard for the defence of Bhunivelze._

_The brave warrior Snow has also raised the main bulk of Bhunivelze's military force and is second-in-command only to Lightning._

_The young scholar Hope is still Director of the Academy, dedicated to science and technology, currently focussing on unearthing and researching more about the world of Gran Pulse._

_Still crystallised from their sacrifice to protect Cocoon in the sky, Vanille and Fang are held within Academia on the floor of Gran Pulse. Researchers are currently trying to find a way to safely break them out of crystal-stasis._

_Since becoming free from the curse of the L'cie brand Sazh wanted nothing more than to live the rest of his life out with his young boy Dajh, although he never forgets to visit his former L'cie friends, he just believes 'his superhero days are over'._

_And finally Noel…the last one to be dragged into the mess caused by Fal'cie, Noel doesn't strictly have an official position or purpose…although he simply vows if Bhunivelze ever falls under threat, that he will be one to protect it._

_Seemingly peace has been restored to humanity, but nobody is willing to put their guard down…if their journey through time taught them anything;_

_be ready for the impossible and never lose hope.  
_

* * *

**A.N.**: So that's the prologue...basically I just wanted to try and set the scene for my alternate ending to Final Fantasy XIII-2, in order to make my story work. I hope I was able to explain everything reasonably well...if there's something you don't understand just message me and I'll be happy to reply! ^-^

But anyway, this is my first fic in the Final Fantasy XIII series, after reading around in this fandom I decided that with all my final exams done and nothing better to do I may as well give it a go! I'm not going to insist that you review this chapter as such because it's just an introduction really :L But please if you like the sound of it after the next chapter feel free to review c: Because as all writers and authors know; feedback is golden!

Also yes, it is NoelxHope and yes it will eventually contain an M-rated scene, but I will warn you in the prior chapter when it's going to happen xD So people who are here for the smut, you're going to have to wait a while haha, and people who are here for progression of their relationship and don't want the smut, don't worry I'll warn you when the smutty chapter is approaching! Anyway, I doubt anybody's even read this far into an author note haha, I'll shut up now...


	2. Chapter I

~Chapter I~

Noel sat on a handrail of the floating streets and pavements of Academia, observing the flying traffic and the people milling about the city below. From his position near the Academy Headquarters, he could see almost everything from the teenagers hanging out near the shopping mall to the police patrolling the streets.

A fruit flavoured popsicle was hanging out of his mouth as he held onto the railing with both hands, he may be a careless young man but he wasn't stupid. A fall from this height would most likely kill him instantly or result in a slow and painful death. However the simple activity of eating frozen treats reflected Noel's peaceful and relaxing new way of life, especially when compared to the horrors of 700AF and his many travels through time.

Some would say that it would've made a nice change that he'd finally found a peaceful way of life with freedom to do as he pleased. Noel was grateful for this, but he also found that he was somewhat bored with this new life and grew to find daily routine of life on Bhunivelze and Academia quite tedious.

He'd tried pretty much everything…initially he had joined Snow in setting up the military for a few months and tutoring the men on certain Gran Pulse knowledge and survival tips he had picked up over the years. Over the course of those few months Snow and Noel had surprised each other by becoming fast friends, bonding over their journeys through time and their sense for adventure. Neither had expected it since they seemed to have opposing personalities, however they now saw each other on an almost weekly basis.

For only a week he had volunteered to help out Lightning in running the new state, however most of the work he was sent went completely over his head. Since he felt his aid was probably more of an inconvenience, he politely excused himself from being Lightnings aide via a telecom device.

The week after that was spent moping around Academia, soaking up a life of leisure, Noel had explored every inch of the new city and in doing so had exhausted the last of his gil. For the first time in his life, Noel was forced to consider getting a job. However he refused to even apply for any jobs in shops or cafes, because it would simply be ridiculous, the saviour of Bhunivelze and indeed the entire future working behind the counter at a clothing store, with a name tag pinned to his clothes, stocking the shop. However he reasoned it would be equally ridiculous and unfair to request for someone else to pay for his bills, food and various activites he participated in in Academia.

The only option he was left with was working for the Academy, since it was run by Hope, Hope would doubtlessly hire him because he knew Noels potential where other academic employers would've turned him down for lack of experience. So yes, Hope had given him a job and at the start of the week he had been very grateful for it, although he hadn't yet been set any specific tasks…

When he signed up for the job he had agreed when Hope had told Noel he couldn't work as a researcher within the facility without any training but he could work with researchers when they went out to do field work in Gran Pulse. He would be paid full time but only take part in defending and aiding field researchers in any way possible…the trouble was when Noel got the job the latest team of researchers had come back from their base in Gran Pulse and would be a few more days until they were ready to leave again…which meant Noel had spent the first four days of his week bored out of his brain, broke and wandering the streets of Academia, which is where he was now.

Noel sucked on the popsicle hanging out of his mouth and glanced over to the Academy headquarters. Every day this week he'd been to see Hope and part of him knew that it wasn't just to ask about whether the field team was ready to move out again or not. Hope was the best friend he had.

Sure he talked with Snow and Lightning and even met up a few times with Alyssa, Sazh and his kid. But it was Hope that he'd known the longest and had been through the most with, also he didn't intimidate him like Lightning (not that Noel would ever admit it), wasn't as loud as Snow and didn't annoy him over long periods of time like Alyssa did. Something about being around Hope made Noel feel able to relax completely, his normal guard been brought right down. There was something about Hope that Noel couldn't put his finger on which made him a little lighter when he was in his presence. As if being around him – and dear Etro he didn't want to use the goddamn cliché phrase – brightened his day. Noel reasoned it was because Hope was calm and serene most of the time and never seemed to let any bad news cloud his happiness. Being around people like that often makes everyone else feel better too.

Noel smiled to himself deciding he may as well go check up on the Director, and make his daily enquiry to see if the researchers were ready to leave for Gran Pulse. He turned round and jumped off the handrail, pausing for a second and looking round for Serah. Remembering he was alone he frowned and rolled his eyes at himself, forcing his legs to start walking as if someone would notice he'd just been looking for a girl who was no longer alive. He didn't often do this, in fact it was a lot less frequent than it had been before, it normally happened when he was in places he'd first visited with Serah.

Noel boarded the conveyor escalator down towards the Headquarters and removed the popsicle from his mouth, inspecting it before replacing it back in his mouth and looking up into the blazing sunshine. It was meant to be spring but for some reason there was a blazing heat wave, Noel blamed this on being in the city and added to the list of reasons why he wanted to leave Academia for the field work as soon as possible.

* * *

After numerous checks and ID verification's Noel was allowed into the main room of the Headquarters. Noel smiled to himself as he saw Hope stood over his control desk in the centre of the room. He began to make his way over when suddenly a yellow blur jumped out in front of him.

"Hey Noel! Why didn't you call me back the other day?" Alyssa's peppy voice sounded as her face slowly came into focus in front of Noels, her hair bouncing slightly on top of her head as she bounced slightly from one foot to the other, staring up into the others eyes. Noel stared with eyes wide open at the sudden shock of her appearance before inching back slightly and removing the popsicle from his mouth.

"Alyssa, I'm sorry I must've forgotten, I've been quite busy lately" he apologized sheepishly, his free hand rubbing the back of his head, hoping Alyssa wouldn't see through his blatant lie.

Unfortunately she did,

"Oh you liar! Ever since you ran out of gil you've just been moping around with nothing better to do, so don't give me that sorry excuse!" she pouted as her eyes narrowed then suddenly looked down at the popsicle in Noels hand, before Noel could attempt a second apology the popsicle had been swiped from his hand.

"Hey! I wasn't done with that!" Noel complained reaching for it, but Alyssa just held it out of reach and took a few steps back,

"Thanks for bringing me this, it's been a pretty hot day at work and watermelon's my favourite, consider your apology accepted!" she said, putting the half-eaten popsicle in her mouth and giving Noel a playful salute, before turning round and beginning to walk off a slight bounce in her step.

Noel narrowed his eyes, pouting slightly and was about to walk off after her when he heard someone nearby chuckling softly, he turned to see that Hope had walked over to him and was now stood a metre away. Noel felt himself smiling,

"Don't worry about that, I'll buy you another" Hope said, his lips pulling into the neutral smile he seemed to always wear whenever Noel was around.

"Hmm, you should get one for yourself too. C'mon, take a break from all this work. I bet you haven't even set foot outside today" Noel said folding his arms and licking his lips, tasting the last of the stolen popsicle. He saw Hopes eyes dart to his lips for a second before Hope mirrored the brunette by folding his arms too, looking away to the side,

"Actually I was awake at five o'clock this morning and had a nice walk into work under the sun. Long before you probably rolled out of bed" Hope looked back to Noel now with a knowing look on his face. The brunette rarely got out of bed before eleven these days as he had nothing to do.

Noel resisted rolling his eyes but felt the smile on his face become a grin,

"Besides I've got a lot of work to be done here, I can't really take a break right now" Hope looked dissapointed shrugged in apology and Noel felt his heart sink a little.

"Ok…it's not like I can force you" Noel replied, "but you have to promise to come and meet me after your work is done, agreed?"

Hope's eyes brightened at the proposition and he gave a short laugh, "Right, agreed!" he said looking into Noels hazel eyes before realisation seemed to go across his face,

"I've also got some exciting news for you!" he said, motioning Noel to follow him with his finger before turning round and walking over to his central control desk.

"Really?" Noel asked as he followed the other over to where he stood over his desk, the many different screens all glowing a green light.

Slinging an arm round Hope's shoulder as they both leant over the desk. He felt Hope flinch and tense up a little, before relaxing into it slightly.

"What's the good news then?" Noel asked, looking out of the corner of his eye at Hope, enjoying the close proximity of the other and the fact Hope seemed to be concentrating intensely on the desk to ignore Noel being so close.

"Umm, well actually…" Hope started, praying that his cheeks wouldn't dust a light pink as they were so prone to do around Noel, before pressing a few buttons and sliding some screens around on the desk before opening a message,

"The field research team is going to be ready to leave tomorrow" he continued and Noel felt his heart skip a beat,

"Yes, finally!" Noel exclaimed, squeezing Hope with the arm wrapped round his shoulder,

"That's the best news I've heard all day" he finished, before releasing his grip from Hope and turning to face him, casually leaning on the desk. Hope stood up straight at shot a smile to Noel,

"I'm sorry it's taken them so long, I mean I promised you work and it's been almost a week until I managed to arrange everything properly", Hope apologised and Noel held up a hand,

"Don't mention it, I'm just glad I don't have to sit around in Academia all day anymore…" Noel said, rubbing the back of his head with his hand,

"It doesn't suit me, don't you think?" he looked to Hope for an answer who put a hand to his chin in thought, looking up slightly.

"To be honest I never really thought about it…" Hope looked down again at Noel, it was true that Noel was born and raised a hunter and a guardian…but times had now changed, quite literally, he hoped that by now Noel would've settled into civilian life on Bhunivelze…but yet here he was still living in and walking the streets of Academia on Gran Pulse, right on his doorstep. No matter how much he had hoped that Noel would move out of temptations way so he would no longer cloud Hope's thoughts, it never happened and for some reason he was now working for him, doubtless to say they had now seen each other on an almost daily basis. Hope didn't mind, seeing Noel was always a high point of the day and he loved to have an excuse to talk to him. It was just that for the rest of the day, his concentration would be broken, no matter how hard he tried to focus on his calculations or experiments, images and thoughts about the brunette hunter just seemed to drift through his brain as a constant distraction.

Suddenly he realised he was supposed to be answering Noels question and he looked at the clothes Noel was wearing, the same ones he had always worn, and he refused to wear anything else. Needless to say this was one of his many traits that made him stick out like a sore thumb on the streets of Academia, it was as if they were his second skin, upon feeling his eyes staring at the brunettes chest where the clothing stretched tight across outlining all his finely toned muscles, he felt himself flush slightly pink and rapidly look up to lock eyes with Noel.

"But- I- uhh" Hope started, looking away to the left, "I can see now why someone so unused to the civilian life would start to feel so restless"

Hope had tried everything to get rid of these thoughts, especially in the first few months he'd known Noel, back when Serah was alive. He had told himself not to get too attached to the younger man because he had been convinced once the paradoxes had been solved Noel would simply vanish back to his own time. Yet here he was, 500 years in the future, 200 years into Noels past, stood right in front of him still alluring and attractive as he ever had been.

Noel tilted his head to one side and raised an eyebrow at Hope's behaviour,

"Right…" he stated, still looking across at Hope who still had his head turned facing another direction.

"Well, thanks again, I'll let you get on with your work!" the younger stated, leaning off the desk to stand up straight.

'Not that I'll be able to concentrate anymore…especially now I know I'm going to be meeting up with you again afterwards' Hope thought to himself, but instead he simply said,

"You're welcome! I'll see you after I've finished, if you meet me here at about ten?" Hope decided with a quick glance at his watch.

Noel shook his head, "You work too much" he muttered but he began to walk away, speaking over to Hope, "I'll be here at ten" he said and with that he walked out of the control room.

Alyssa observing that Hopes gaze never left the other mans back until the doors had shut behind him and he was out of sight. She grinned to herself and bounced over to where Hope was still stood facing the doorway.

"Had another visit from the charming Pulsian, have we?" she teased her boss, nudging his side with her elbow.

Hope felt his cheeks turning a shade darker. Alyssa was the only one who knew about his little fixation with the hunter and only because she had pestered him incessantly about what he was thinking each time his eyes glazed over in thought. She somehow knew before he'd even told her it was some sort of crush, Hope reasoned it must've been something similar to a woman's intuition.

"Alyssa, I thought you were working in the lab" Hope said calmly, turning back to his control desk and shutting down the messages he had received off the field research team.

Alyssa grinned inwardly, "I was" she said happily, walking a few steps closer so that she was stood next to the silver-haired Director.

"But I thought that your little experiment with Noel was far more interesting!" she giggled behind her hand.

Hope slammed his hands onto the desk, shutting his eyes in frustration,

"It's not an experiment Alyssa!" he snapped, turning his head to look at the amused researcher,

"Nothing is happening between us!" he stated, pursing his lips and hoping that the other would drop the topic now, but that was unlikely.

"And why not?" she pressed further winking at Hope, "It can't go on like this much longer, besides, what's stopping you?"

Hope sighed and leaned off the desk, to face the young woman,

"I've told you before, I'm pretty sure he doesn't feel the same way…I wouldn't want to embarrass myself or ruin our friendship" Hope said sadly, looking to Alyssa.

Alyssa shook her head, "And as I keep telling you!" she said loudly, pointing a finger at Hope with her other hand on her hip.

"You're never going to know unless you try! Do you think Snow sat for months on end worrying about whether Serah would accept him for who he was?" she asked, tilting her head knowingly.

Hope sighed again and ran a hand through his silver hair,

"But I'm not like Snow…and Noel isn't like Serah" he replied.

Alyssa giggled slightly, "Are you sure he's not like Serah? I mean of course they have their subtle differences but…" she said, putting her hand to her chin in thought and beginning to pace.

"They did travel through time together without ruining their close friendship, they both showed the same amount of care and self-sacrifice in everything they did together. And you know Serah well! Would she have stayed friends with someone who was so unlike her that they were mean and unkind?" she finished turning back to face Hope and wait for a reply.

"Well…no..but-"

"EXACTLY!" she shouted and pointed both her hands at the Director, causing a few other nearby researchers to jump slightly and look over too.

"You've got nothing to worry about! Noel doesn't seem like the type of guy who would throw away his friends so carelessly, just give it a go!" she said, winking again before turning to walk away before Hope could argue back.

Instead of rising to the challenge Hope stayed quiet and let her go, because he couldn't be bothered to argue but mainly because he knew she was right. He was the one who was too scared to admit to anything, most of all something he was so alien to such as romantic feelings. Sure he'd had his fair share of crushes when he'd been growing up, hell even Snow had been one of them, but they'd all ended or faded away at some point, which with Snow Hope had been very grateful to Etro from relieving him of that weird fixation because Snow belonged wholeheartedly to Serah.

But for some reason Noel wouldn't vanish or fade away, mainly because he saw him on a daily and previously weekly basis. And of course thought about him on a disturbing daily basis…Hope of course understood it couldn't go on like this for much longer…but…he guessed he was scared of rejection.

Once again forcing Noel out of his mind, he returned back to his desk and began checking the screen as he had received an influx of messages from researchers calling him to the lab. Hope mentally thanked them for this distraction from his thoughts and fired a message back to them before locking the central desk and heading off for the laboratory.

* * *

Noel sat on the steps outside the Headquarters, it was approximately ten minutes past ten. Hope was approximately ten minutes late and Noel was quite cold from the chilling breeze and the fact the sun had gone down and was beginning to feel boredom creeping into his brain again.

After seeing Hope earlier that day Noel had tried to amuse himself by taking a walk around Academia, which had turned into a jog round Academia, a trip to the local gym, a shower and then falling asleep for five hour nap. After waking up at about twenty to ten Noel had hurried to redress himself and had ran across to the Headquarters, not wanting to be late and miss Hope's meeting time. In his mad rush through his apartment he had forgotten to pick up the last of his dwindling gil supply and his telecom device*. So he had no way of knowing what time it was, whether Hope had tried to contact him to tell him he was going to be late or have to call the meeting off and he was also out of gil for whatever Hope wanted to do.

Noel glanced up into the sky again, coming from the world of 700AF he had learnt how to roughly tell the time by the positioning of the sun in the sky, but he could barely see it as it had begun to set on the horizon and their were several other skyscrapers and buildings blocking its view. But Noel put an estimate on about fifteen minutes past ten, just then he heard voices behind him.

"Hey Noel!"

Noel raised an eyebrow and stood to turn around, that voice didn't sound like Hope and in fact it wasn't Hope. The brunette had turned to see Alyssa and Hope walking out of the Academy Headquarters, as the lights of the building shut down behind them.

"Hey Alyssa, didn't know you worked this late" Noel said, only slightly put out by the fact it wasn't going to be Hope and him alone together.

Alyssa skipped over down the steps to where Noel was and gave him a hug, which Noel returned with a smile before she bounced back to stand in front of him.

"Normally I don't, but me and Hope are working on a big project and we really have to start meeting these deadlines if we want to finish on time!" she said cheerily,

"Anyway, I don't want to talk about work, what are we going to do you guys?" she asked looking back to Hope, as did Noel.

Hope had tried to get Alyssa to go home early, but for some reason she seemed to know Hope was meeting up with someone tonight and when he finally told her it was Noel, she insisted on coming with them. Initially this had annoyed Hope as she had rudely invited herself, however after thinking about it Hope decided it wasn't the end of the world and he would just have to endure her presence.

Hope gave a small wave to Noel as a greeting before he spoke, "Well I thought we could just go out for some food?" he suggested,

"There's a new Pulsian cuisine restaurant which has just opened up on the west side of the shopping district, I thought we could try it out?"

Noel's eyes lit up at the mention of food, as did Alyssa's,

"Yes! I'm starving, let's get a move on and hope they're still serving people by the time we get there!" Alyssa exclaimed grabbing one of both the mens arms and pulling them down the steps of the Academy towards the conveyor footpaths.

* * *

After they had arrived at the restaurant it was just past half ten and the restaurant looked to be halfway through their dinner-time service. However with a little bit of persuasion the blushing waitress fell to Noels charming tactics and offered them a table, saying they would have to order within the next five minutes in order to eat with them tonight.

As they sat down at their table near the balcony Alyssa grinned,

"Way to go Noel, you sure knew how to work that waitress to get our seat!" she said, unfolding her napkin with the flick of her wrist and laying it on her lap.

Noel mirrored Alyssas actions with the napkin and gave a short chuckle,

"What can I say? I'm quite persuasive when I need to be" he said, smirking at Alyssa who giggled.

"Didn't you see how the waitress was blushing Hope?" Alyssa asked slyly, her eyes sliding over to where Hope was seated on their rectangular table next to Noel.

"She totally had the hots for our Noel!" she said, smirking as Noel also looked across to Hope for an answer. Hope felt his cheeks going pink, yet again and quickly snapped open a menu holding it in front of his face before mumbling a reply that Alyssa and Noel didn't quite catch.

Noel looked confused and shot a questioning look to Alyssa, Alyssa rolled her eyes at him before turning to Noel.

"Don't worry about it, he's just had a really long day at work" she said and Noel nodded understandingly, while Hope continued to hide behind his menu waiting for his cheeks to return to a normal colour until the flustered waitress returned and took their order.

Thankfully it didn't take long for their food to arrive and they were equally thankful that it was actually quite good. Within less than an hour the trio had finished their starters and mains and were currently picking at their deserts with full stomachs.

Alyssa poked at her cheesecake with her fork, cutting off small pieces but only bringing them halfway to her mouth before replacing them back on the plate. She looked at the strawberry cheesecake sadly, she had been so looking forward to desert yet her savoury courses had left her stomach feeling a little too full. She looked across at Hope who also seemed to be struggling with the chocolate cake he ordered, and pushed the plate away from himself.

"I'm full, please don't let me eat anything else" he groaned leaning back in his chair,

Alyssa nodded in agreement, pushing the cheesecake away, "Agreed" she said, rubbing her stomach with her hands, before looking across at Noel.

To the other two's surprise Noel was tearing through the remains of his rich desert and finished, pushing his empty plate away. Smiling and rubbing his stomach happily,

"That was amazing" he said, before notcing that the other two hadn't finished their deserts. Hope saw Noel eyeing his chocolate cake hungrily, he sighed and pushed it towards the brunette,

"You can have it" he said.

Noel thanked him before demolishing the remains of the cake and starting on Alyssas desert too. Alyssa watched on in horror,

"Do you not feel sick?" she asked after Noel had finished all three of their deserts and their plates had been cleared away. Noel laughed a little and shook his head,

"No, I feel fine! My hunger has been satisfied" he said, patting his stomach,

"Besides, I need to eat a lot before we leave for Gran Pulse tomorrow!" Noel announced happily, stretching his arms above his head before relaxing.

Alyssa looked slightly taken aback and glanced to Hope, "We?" she asked, thinking Noel had meant he and Hope were going together.

Hope rapidly shook his head, "No, he means he's going to help research team Gamma on their expedition to Sulya Springs tomorrow" he corrected Noel, which in turn caused the brunette to look to Hope with a slightly disappointed expression on his face.

"You're staying at the Headquarters?" Noel asked sadly, he had been sure that Hope would've come with him, but now he thought about it, it did make sense for the Director of the entire Academy to stay behind.

Hope nodded and shrugged lightly, "I'm afraid so" he said apologetically.

Hope's attention was caught by the young woman sat across from them who was shaking her head,

"Hope, you should go!" she said, leaning on the table with her chin resting in her hands.

Hope looked slightly shocked, "What? I can't go, there's too much stuff to manage at the Academy!" he said, "That project we're working on-"

He was cut off as Alyssa flicked her hand in the air, "Don't worry about that stuff, I can step in and manage things while you're away, I know everything that you do about the project we're working on, it shouldn't be a problem." She smiled, "Besides, I can't remember the last time you took a few days out of the Headquarters!" she stated.

Noel nodded and gestured across the table to Alyssa, "Thank you Alyssa!" he said before turning to Hope, "See, I'm not the only one who says you need a well-earned break from your Headquarters!" he announced folding his arms, glad to have someone else on his side.

For once Hope was lost for words, he had never contemplated going with the Gamma research group however it did seem that he would be able to go. It was true that Alyssa would be able to manage the Academy for a few days without him, today when they had been working together they had pretty much both been asked the same questions and given similar answers. It was also true that when various employees were unable to find Hope they referred to Alyssa, who seemed to have unofficially become recognised as second-in-command of the Academy. Hope also wouldn't mind another visit to the wilds of Gran Pulse, for all the safety and comfort that Academia had provided the wilds still tempted him with nostalgia and a sense of adventure.

The only reason Hope felt the need to object to going to Gran Pulse was that he would be stuck with Noel 24/7 for about an entire week. He wasn't sure that this was a good idea.

"…are you sure?" Hope tried, aware of his incredibly weak argument as he asked Alyssa,

"It'll be a lot of extra work for you…" he explained in an attempt to put her off, but she just shook her head again.

"I'll be fine! Take a few days out, you've earned it!" she announced as the bill was placed on the table.

"Yes, please come with us!" Noel requested, his eyes glowing with the idea that his friend would come with him on a journey to Gran Pulse.

Hope looked between his two closest friends, each glowing with excitement. He felt himself cave under the goodwill of his two friends and he sighed, shrinking a little in his seat.

"Ok, I'll go" he said quietly while Alyssa clapped and Noel patted him on the shoulder.

"Good choice! It will do you good to get outside again!" he grinned to Hope, which caused Hope to smile back.

Alyssa meanwhile was currently reading the bill,

"Holy Tonberry!" she exclaimed, "I wouldn't have ordered the Adamantoise if I'd have known how much it was going to cost me!"

She placed the bill back on the table and opened her purse, counting out the gil.

Suddenly remembering that he had no gil, Noel snatched the bill and read how much he owed the restaurant.

"1,000 gil for just three courses?" he said, his eyes going wide before looking across at Alyssa who was still counting her money and then across to Hope, turning his face into a sheepish expression.

"I forgot my gil reserves, on my way out of the apartment…I don't suppose you could cover this for me? I'll pay you back at the end of the month when I get paid" he pleaded, looking at Hope with his deep brown eyes.

Hope blinked slightly, "Sure…in fact don't worry about paying me back. You earn a lot less than me so I don't mind"

Alyssa looked over to Hope, "Wow, that sure is generous of you Hope, would you mind covering mine as well? I earn a lot less than you too…unless you're paying for Noel for some other reason…" she said smiling sweetly while mentally applauding herself for such a tactical manoeuvre.

Hope narrowed his eyes slightly at Alyssa, trying not to speak through his teeth his politely answered of course he wouldn't mind paying for his closest two _friends_ while making a mental note to leave her extra work to do before he left as payback.

After Hope had covered the bill they all wandered outside again, into the now dark streets lit up by the lamps at the sides of the walkways. Alyssa hugged herself to stay warm while Noel rubbed his bare arms.

"Well I guess I'll see you both tomorrow then" the brunette said to his two friends who nodded,

"Sure, I'll come say goodbye to you both before you set off!" Alyssa offered politely and Hope nodded.

"Yes…until tomorrow then I guess" Hope said before giving Noel instructions on what time and where to meet him tomorrow in the Headquarters.

"All right, before we freeze to death, I'm going to have to say goodbye" Alyssa said, feeling herself starting to shiver. Hope took pity on her and wrapped a warm arm round her shoulders, noticing how Noel seemed to stare at this action before he snapped out of it.

"Yeah…goodnight Alyssa" he said, starting to walk away, "Sleep well Hope" he said over his shoulder.

"Night!" Alyssa called after him before turning to look up at her boss, snuggling closer to the other mans warmth as they both started to walk back towards the Academy employees apartment blocks, under the glow of the eco-friendly streetlamps they had both developed together.

"Well…I thought tonight went well don't you?" she said happily grinning to herself as she felt Hope twitch slightly before he quietly muttered;

"Honestly, you're lucky that I love you"

* * *

**A.N.: **Ok, first chapter down and out of the way! How was it? I know that not much is happening yet but honestly I wanted to have a go at writing in some progression. xD To outline their relationship at the beginning of this fic basically; they are close friends, Hope has feelings for Noel, Noel has feelings for Hope but is unaware they are romantic.

Also I didn't want to put Alyssa in there because I really really resent her creation in Final Fantasy XIII-2 and she's just an incredibly weak and pointless character from my point of view but I felt the need to use her just so that the dinner scene wouldn't be too awkward.

Also sorry if there's too many massive chunks of text with descriptions and thoughts but again its the first chapter and I need to set the scene. These massive paragraphs will decrease don't worry!

telecom device*

I just starred this because I'd like to tell you what it is…it basically functions exactly like a mobile phone, however I didn't want to use the term 'mobile phone' or 'phone' in a fic which doesn't already have them in it…because it seems a bit out-of-context.

NEXT CHAPTER; See's Noel, Hope and the Gamma research team beginning to make their way to Sulya Springs across Gran Pulse!


	3. Chapter II

~Chapter II~

The journey down to Pulse had been relatively boring for Noel, listening to Hope and all the researchers talking to each other and going over briefing for when they landed on Pulse. Noel couldn't really understand any of the long words they were using and had pretty much just sat at the long table of the room they were in day-dreaming.

With his hand to his chin, leaning on the table he had shut out the voices of the many people he was working with and was deep within his thoughts. He may have been escaping the dull cityscape, but he could never escape the confines of his own mind. It was never really a good thing when he was left alone with his thoughts, most of the time he tried to avoid it by visiting friends and talking to others to take his mind off it, or if worst came to the worst and nobody was around Noel would put himself through rigorous exercises to take his mind off things. But Hope was too busy briefing his employees and the airship wasn't exactly built to have Noel running laps round it, never mind being big enough to have Noel running round it.

So Noels mind had drifted to Serah…even though he knew it wasn't his fault that she had died, part of Noel believed that he might have been able to do something to save her. Sometimes Noel just thought he should've gone on by himself and told Serah to stay in her own time so she wouldn't have had to die…but then again when he first met Serah he didn't know she could see the future and he didn't know just how much they'd need to travel through time to find the truth. However he should never have allowed her to go through with the final plan, as soon he realised she could see the future, as soon as Yeul warned them that Serah might die for their future if they continued, he should've told her to stop. He should've made her stay behind so she didn't have to see that final vision, the vision which killed her.

By the time they had reached Pulse, Noel was in a bit of a trance, his normal upbeat demeanour clouded by thoughts and what if's. He watched as the airship was unloaded, taking in the area and atmosphere of being on Pulse. If there was one good thing about this, it was that he was off that airship and into fresh air, and breeze, he thought as the wind gently moved the brown hair on his head. Looking around at the breathtaking scenery, the vast open plains with the broken land forming cliffs amidst giant plants and vegetation. It felt like he'd entered a new universe entirely from the futuristic cities he'd become so accustomed to staying in. Noel could never decide whether he necessarily liked Pulse or not, however whenever he was on it, he felt an overwhelming sense of freedom.

Eventually with all the gear and tents and equipment unloaded onto the convoy of five hovercrafts which were being used on their journey, the airship took off and headed back to Pulse. Noel watched it leave, holding up and hand as a shield to the harsh sunlight,

"Why's it abandoning us?" Noel asked as the airship quickly drew away from them and headed towards the shadow in the sky, which was Bhunivelze. Hope snickered slightly before walking towards Noel, the Director was in a completely opposite mood than Noel, having spent the entire journey becoming increasingly excited by this opportunity to get a few days out of the office. Alyssa had been right, it had been too long since he'd left his office, he knew that much because of just how excited he had got, merely talking about the various activities and samples to be found on Pulse.

"You say that as if we're in danger of being killed" Hope said grinning at Noels expression, which was deadly serious. Noel frowned a little at Hope, moving his hand back to his side,

"There are monsters on Pulse" he said bluntly, causing Hope to let out a short laugh,

"That's why we brought you remember?" Hope said, walking over to the nearest hovercraft and rooting through one of the crates which had been tied down before pulling something out and returning to Noel.

"Here" Hope said, handing over the brunettes dual swords, which Noel took into his hand. The weight of the swords felt strange, even to him, who had trained with them for so long…yet he hadn't wielded them in months. Noel unsheathed the smaller sword a little to inspect it, as if trying to remember what it looked like, then there was a hand on his shoulder.

"We're counting on you to go ahead and protect the convoy" Hope smiled at Noel, gesturing to the row of hovercrafts, the brunettes head turned and looked at them silently, the four near the back were heavily loaded with supplies while the front one was extremely lightly equipped and looked like a different model, built for speed more than carrying heavy luggage like the others.

Hope glanced across at the hunters vacant expression and chewed his lip a little before deciding to get his attention, he suddenly felt awful for being so happy when Noel was clearly so alienated from the researchers activities

"You'll be riding in the front hovercraft, to clear a safe path for the rest of us" Hope tried again.

While still staring at the hovercrafts, Noel absently took hold of the hand on his shoulder while putting his swords safely on their holster on his back with another. Still not really paying attention, Noel gave Hopes hand a gentle squeeze, before turning to look at him,

"I'll protect you, don't worry about a thing" he said, before letting go of Hopes hand, walking, then jogging over to the front hovercraft, easily jumping up onto the side of the hovercrafts body and sitting on its side, holding onto the frame in front of him. Hope watched, a light blush dusting his face as it always seemed to do, he then quickly turned away, clenching and unclenching his hand, trying to forget the feeling of Noels hand on his. Hope felt himself pouting slightly, he knew it was wrong of him to think of little things like this as signs of intimacy, but he couldn't help it.

As he climbed safely into the passenger seat of the middle hovercraft, he wished he knew Noel better. I mean of course they were close friends but…Noel rarely ever talked to him about his past, even though he knew all about Hopes. Sometimes this made the silver-haired director feel a little left out, a little like he did today, he could see Noels pensive expression and he wanted to know what he was thinking about. He sighed and leaned back in his seat, deciding to return focus on the beautiful world around him, maybe he'd be able to appreciate it more now that he wasn't a fugitive of the entire human race.

* * *

At first Noel had been a little bit rusty in combat, but it was nothing he couldn't overcome and after the first few encounters he found he was fighting just like he had been back when he'd travelled the timeline. And just like back then, he found it so easy that he began to enjoy it and had forgotten all about his thoughts towards Serahs death, instead concentrating on fighting a clear path for Hope and his researchers. So far he'd mostly come across many sub-species of wolves and flans, nothing too big or that he couldn't handle, but as the sun started to set in the sky they saw a large shadow on the horizon. The pilot of the scout hovercraft, Rina, increased the speed as they usually did when sighting a monster in order to get close enough to Noel to jump off and fight it and for the researchers behind to keep their distance as it wasn't yet safe.

"Target sighted!" Rina said as they got closer the shadow of the monster they'd spotted. Noel narrowed his eyes, peering at the silhouette against the sun, he could see a spiked weapon on the four legged creatures back and it's tail was quite long flicking out with a deadly spiked wheel on the end. The hunter quickly realised it was a behemoth,

"Stop here!" Noel said to Rina, shaking her shoulder to make sure she heard and didn't get too close,

"Rogggeerrrr!" She said, gently braking as they drew closer, to reveal a King Behemoth against the horizon,

"Woahhhh…now he's a big 'un!" she marvelled, leaning forward in her seat,

"I've only ever seen the files on these creatures, never seen one in real life!" she continued, while Noel narrowed his eyes, observing the monster and trying to remember what he could from his previous fights against behemoths. They weren't his favourite, but having defeated them before in 700AF he wasn't too scared and with the recent fight with Caius, he was sure this would be a piece of cake. Then the behemoth suddenly turned, it had seen them.

Noel frowned, before cursing as the behemoth started off towards them at a run,

"Quick, turn around and go wait with the others, these creatures are extremely violent" he said, jumping off the hovercraft and unsheathing both swords from his back, while Rina made a sharp u-turn coming back to Noel.

"DIRECTOR HOPE SAID NOT TO LEAVE YOU ALONE!" she yelled, leaning out the side of her hovercraft. The brunette sighed, typical Hope, always over-protective. That thought cause him to smile a little, before turning and yelling a reply,

"You're not going to be safe here, I wouldn't be doing my job properly by putting you in harms way" he said, turning back and noticing that the behemoth was now about thirty metres away and was massive. Noel couldn't remember them being this big…maybe it had just been a long time since he'd fought one…

With the whirr of the hovercraft suddenly starting up and jetting away from him, Noel dug his feet into the ground and prepared him to fight the behemoth. From what he could remember he had to stagger it, and fast before it had time to transform. The hunter frowned in concentration, while a smirk broke out on his face,

"All right…" he shouted, just as the behemoth closed in and slashed at him with its razor sharp claws, the brunette skilfully rolled under the attack and was ready to jump out of the way before he could get lashed by the monsters tail. He landed in a shoulder roll before quickly standing up and taking up an offensive stance, muttering magic under his breath to summon fire to attack the beast as it tried and failed to make a u-turn after its reckless charge. As he watched the behemoth trip and roll across the ground uncontrolled and engulfed in fire magic, he grinned and started running across to his target before it had even stood up again.

This was going to be an easy fight.

* * *

Hope nervously paced back and forth next to Rina's hovercraft. He had walked over about ten minutes ago after he'd got worried about Noel. They couldn't see what was happening because the convoy had decided to wait behind a steep hill, so that they would be safe so that the monsters couldn't see them, but as the sun began to fade, Hopes concern for the hunter seemed to grow.

"Director, I'm sure he's fine" Rina started, her chin resting on her hand as she sat on the side of the hovercraft, her long black boots squeaking slightly against the metal hovercraft and she moved slightly to get comfortable. Hope continued pacing,

"He's been gone over half an hour now" Hope complained, looking at the ground with his arms hugging himself. He had been enjoying himself thoroughly up until this point, journeying across the vast open plains with friendly company and a brilliant view of Pulse of course. The other researchers had also been exploring Pulse along the way too, whenever they were waiting for Noel to finish defeating the monster ahead of them. For example they had been taking samples from a regional flower found on Pulse when Hope suddenly became aware over how long Noel had been alone with the sighted behemoth.

"I knew I should've hired someone else to go with him" he muttered under his breath as he continued shuffling nervously back and forth.

Rina sighed and flicked a bit of bleach blonde hair behind her ear, jumping down off the hovercraft and deciding to stretch her legs a little with some gentle muscle exercises.

"Ehhh I'm sure he's ok though" she sighed, with the relaxing feeling of stretching her muscles after being sat down so long,

"behemoths are just a tough monster to take down solo" she finished, moving to stretch her calf muscles while Hope never slowed pacing.

Hearing her reply the director frowned slightly, he knew perfectly well what a behemoth was and what it was and wasn't capable of. In fact he could remember from his time as a l'cie when he and Lightning had to rescue Snow from the King Behemoth, the stupid human-tank had charged straight in as usual and hadn't been able to stagger it on his own, allowing the monster to transform into its powered up state and Snow had been unable to finish it off alone.

Hope stopped his pacing completely and felt his eyes go wide, he stared at the grass beneath his feet.

"Rina quick, get in the hovercraft!" he said dashing past the pilot and opening the crate in the back of her hovercraft, once again rooting round for something.

Behind him Rina pouted at having to get back into the driving seat again, before walking over to the hovercraft, watching Hope rooting through the large crate strapped to the back of it.

"Sir, what are we doing?" she asked curiously as her boss kept rummaging through the box, clinks of metal were heard as he went.

"We…are going to help Noel" Hope stated, not looking up from his current task, leaving Rina to tilt her head to one side, observing him still.

"He needs our help?" she asked, tapping her foot against the ground,

"How can you be so sure?" she continued, hearing Hope make a noise of recognition, having found what he'd been looking for. She watched him pull out an item encased in cloth, which Hope quickly removed to reveal a bright orange boomerang.

Hope stared at the boomerang, putting the cloth back into the crate and shutting it, he had packed his weapon in case such an emergency would arise and he grinned slightly, thank god he had brought it, otherwise he wouldn't be able to help Noel.

But now he looked to the pilot, "I've done this before, if we don't go now, he could be seriously injured" Hope said, sounding incredibly authoritative, enough so that Rina quickly stood up straight from her slouched position.

"But Sir?" she started nervously, twiddling her fingers, "Won't you get hurt too?" she asked, looking up into her boss' eyes, referring to that fact that he was no longer a l'cie and hadn't fought anything properly in years. Hope suddenly realised the same thing before shaking his head and waving her to get into the drivers seat.

"I'm prepared to risk it to give Noel whatever aid I can" he said, while Rina giggled. Hope raised an eyebrow at her, causing her eyes to suddenly go wide,

"Oh! I'm sorry sir that sounds so noble of you!" she grinned, while her boss glared slightly,

"It's fine, let's get moving!" he urged, holding his boomerang and jumping onto the side of the hovercraft as he'd watched Noel do.

As the machine set off Hope quickly regretted not wearing the holster for his boomerang, it was very difficult to hang on with just one free hand. He carefully steadied himself and found a comfortable position, he then peered ahead of the hovercraft noticing a large shadow in the distance of the plains. He felt his heart suddenly miss a few beats in his chest as the thought of what he was doing finally seemed to enter his brain. Yet as scared as he was fighting for possible survival for the first time in years, he was more worried over the safety of Noel, he couldn't stop praying he would be ok. If Noel was injured he would feel the guilt, for getting too wrapped up in his sampling and research of the flowers, when what he really should've been doing is looking out for his friend. His grip on his weapon increased, he would never forgive himself if anything had happened to him, in moments like these Hope had realisations of how deeply he cared for the other man and those thoughts, scared him even more.

* * *

The fight had started off reasonably easy and Noel had the upper hand throughout the initial sparring of their encounter. However as the behemoth had become significantly enraged it had, much to Noels horror, transformed onto its hind legs into a being reminiscent of a human and was using the weapon off its back as a sword, which Noel only just kept narrowly dodging. The monster was so strong so the hunter couldn't afford to get hit by even one of his attacks otherwise he'd be at a massive disadvantage, however the behemoth was also very fast and left barely any time for Noel to attack in between its own strikes. So although Noel hadn't been injured just yet, he was beginning to get worn down by the behemoths relentless assaults and endless stamina and he found himself becoming slower and attacking less frequently…this fight was not only dragging itself out but was becoming more and more dangerous for Noel.

Noel had just dodged a large downwards strike of the behemoths sword, when he heard the sound of a hovercraft behind him, next thing he knew, there was a massive blazing inferno of fire magic, much stronger than anything he was capable of summoning, engulfing the creature in front of him. The behemoth staggering backwards, waving its arms around desperately trying to get away from the flames, Noel allowed this time to look round to see who had joined him.

He turned to see Hope jump off the hovercraft behind him and suddenly he felt his heart skip a beat, was he insane? He thought as the silver-haired man stood up properly and dashed over to where Noel was stood, the hunter ran over to him and grabbed his shoulders.

"Are you crazy? Get out of here, you're going to get yourself hurt!" he spoke urgently, his eyes full of concern for the others safety. Hope allowed Noel to shake him by the shoulders for a few seconds as he quickly looked the other up and down, luckily he seemed to be unharmed and he felt a sigh of relief leave him, before he realised what Noel had said to him. He glared determined back into Noels brown eyes,

"I couldn't just sit around there and wait!" he protested, looking down to his boomerang and holding it in both hands, feeling suddenly stupid and embarrassed for worrying himself so much,

"I was so worried you might be hurt" he explained, fiddling nervously with the weapon in his hands.

Noel watched the man in front of him and he felt himself smiling, Hope was always so sweet when he became all worried like this. He moved a hand from Hopes shoulder and used it to take hold of the others chin, lifting it up slightly, so their eyes could meet. Forgetting about the situation, Hope felt his heart flutter being handled this way by the one he loved so much.

"Hope I'm ok, you didn't need to worry" he said, smiling gently at the other, feeling a warm sensation inside his chest which Noel recognised as the warm feeling that was so rare these days, knowing that others were looking out for him, knowing he was loved. The two stayed like this for a few moments, Hope feeling his palms becoming sweaty through his gloves and feeling sure that his pale skin had betrayed him once more to give him suitably feminine pink cheeks. However they were both broken out of their trance by a piercing roar behind them.

They both suddenly whirled round and saw the behemoth had managed to finally stop Hopes fire magic. It was now looking royally pissed off and was slowly stomping its way, menacingly, towards them, sword at the ready, glinting in the fading sunlight.

"Hope" Noel turned to face his friend, as did the other upon hearing his name,

"Are you sure you want to do this?" Noel asked, concern laced in every word as he looked to the silver-haired one. The last thing he wanted to happen was Hope to become injured all because Noel had been too foolish not to take the behemoth down solo when he'd had the chance, he didn't want Hope to suffer for his mistakes.

Hope gulped, looking from Noel and up to the King Behemoth which was now towering over him, similar to how it had done so many years ago. Moments like this made him regret leaving the comfort of the Academy Headquarters, or even the convoy which was hidden behind the hill. It's blood red eyes seemingly glowing of their own accord as it advanced on its targets.

"Y-yeah, I can do this" he stuttered, shocking himself as he thought that the shy little boy within him had been broken in and left long ago. He quickly looked at wrist where the same band was wrapped around, reminding him of everything it represented.

"Are you sure?"

Hope heard Noels voice as he looked at the band and back up to the monster in front of him, a determined look creeping onto his face.

"Let's go!" Hope said loudly*, quickly running forwards towards the creature and launching a few magic spells ahead of him before throwing the boomerang, giving him time to dodge under the colossal sword of the behemoth. Noel blinked, not expecting Hope to have done such a bold manoeuvre so well for his first time back on the field before quickly jumping up and joining in the fight himself.

* * *

Fighting with Hope had been a lot easier, not only was Hope able to stagger the behemoth a lot quicker than he had been on his own, but he was amazed at just how strong Hope was. They managed to defeat the behemoth easily within the next ten minutes, they were both able to work together like a dream. When he had first learnt Hope's signature weapon was a boomerang, Noel had been somewhat sceptical, but now he had seen him in action, he was well and truly amazed…he may be an even stronger fighter than Serah was. Idly he wondered what it would have been like if Hope had travelled the timeline with him instead of Serah, how that would've panned out. Hope's voice snapped Noel back into reality,

"That was great!" Hope said happily, his eyes glowing brightly as he folded away his boomerang, walking towards Noel, away from the monster which lay lifeless on the floor. Hope had initially been afraid but after he'd learnt that Noel was unharmed and that the two of them were stronger than their enemy, it had all become a game to Hope and he found himself enjoying it.

"I haven't had that much fun in a long time!" he continued, while Noel blinked slightly at how much the other was grinning, before returning a smile.

"If it makes you happy, you should do it more often!" the hunter spoke truthfully, feeling slightly exhausted as he realised what time it was and just how long he'd spent on his feet today fighting, while Hope tilted his head a little to think about it.

"Are you saying you wouldn't mind me joining you tomorrow?" Hope asked, hopefully*.

Noel chuckled a little before shrugging, "Sure why not? It's not like I can refuse that offer, you're my boss now after all".

It was only when people mentioned it that Hope realised he was currently employing his friend, it was a bit of a weird thought, probably why he never tried to remember it properly.

"Uhh, right" Hope nodded, suddenly feeling awkward and guilty for having a better job than Noel, but he quickly banished this thought with the fact that he had given Noel a job to help him out.

"You're actually quite handy with that weapon of yours" Noel said off-handedly, gesturing to the boomerang in Hope's hands. Hopes heart did flips and he felt himself glowing from the compliment,

"You really think so?" Hope found himself blurting out before he could stop himself, leaning forward a little to Noel, waiting for his answer with anticipation.

"Yeah…you really are skilled with your…uhh…boomerang" Noel smirked, resheathing his swords and hooking them onto the holster on his back. The comment made Hope's face beam with happiness,

"Thank you" he said, bowing his head slightly to the hunter, Noel watched him as he did this, really the Director was just too polite sometimes,

"Not that I couldn't have handled that myself" the brunette said smugly, not being able to resist the boastful tease, flipping his hair before turning round and attempting to walk away, only to wince as he put his weight on his right leg and fall to the ground. As much as Hope wanted to mock the other for his previous comment, the caring soul within him took control and Hope was instantly alert, dashing over to where Noel had fallen,

"Noel, are you ok?" he asked quickly, supporting the other mans back as he struggled to stand up, squatting down next to him.

Noel winced again as he put more weight on his foot, struggling to stand,

"Ah, I guess I got a little too cocky" Noel muttered between his clenched teeth, karma could be a total bitch, as he struggled to stand again, not really understanding his injury, having been fine a few seconds ago during the last of the fighting.

"Ooft!" Noel exhaled sharply as his back hit the floor, Hope had pushed him down by his chest, preventing him from standing up. Noel looked to the hand on his chest and traced it up to the others eyes, holding their gaze with a small frown.

"Hope, I'm fine" he said calmly, trying to remove the others hand from his chest, however the silver-haired man shook his head and let go of his boomerang, letting it hit the soft grass as he held the brunette hunter down with both of his hands. Noel glared up into the eyes of the other, recognising that the annoyingly parental and over-protective Hope had taken control of the previous one who'd been enjoying the fight.

"Please stop struggling so I can see what's wrong with you" Hope explained, but when he looked to the others right leg, he suddenly realised it would be too dark, as the sun had long since begun to set, for him to see what he was looking for, despite how experienced he was as a medic. It was weird how fast his mood could change around the other man. Suddenly Hope felt movement underneath his hands again,

"Just let me up, I'm sure I just tripped" Noel complained, taking hold of both Hopes wrists, in an attempt to pull them off him. He didn't want to be babied by Hope, he felt like he should be the one looking after him, not the other way round and even less did he want to be seen by the other researchers in such a weak state, he was meant to be the one protecting all of them for crying out loud.

Feeling Noel pushing him away with a lot of force, Hope pushed back, the hunters head hitting the soft grass yet again,

"Noel please, just let me call Rina to come and pick you up" he attempted to persuade Noel, but the hunter was having none of it and continued to struggle even more. Hope quickly found himself losing patience with the other man, it was at moments like these where Noels stubbornness reminded him somewhat of Snow.

The last thing Hope wanted was Noel to try walking on his injured leg, if it got worse before it got treated then not only would Hope have felt such terrible guilt, but also with Noel injured, the entire research expedition would be held back by a few days. That's when he felt Noel trying to push him away with his left leg, Hope tsked slightly under his breath, feeling irritated that Noel was too proud to know what was good for him.

"Stay still Noel" he said, reaching quickly for his telecom device to call Rina, but the hunter didn't let up and Hope found he needed both hands to keep Noel still. Just then the hunter tried moving his right leg and let out a sharp hiss of pain, but he didn't stop moving. This just confirmed Hope's ideas that he was injured, and needed help.

"Don't make me sit on you" Hope threatened, and it wasn't an empty threat, he was getting irritated by this point and when Noel continued to thrash and pull on his wrists, he quickly hooked his left leg over Noels body and sat himself down on his hips, stunning the hunter beneath him and giving Hope the chance to pin down both Noels wrists above his head.

Noels eyes were wide as he stared up at the sky, the man sat on top of him straightening his back so he could look at his face. Hope was wearing a small frown as he glared at Noel, clearly unhappy with his behaviour. Holding the brunettes wrists in one hand he reached for the telecom device with the other, quickly speed dialling Rina.

"Hi Rina, we finally killed it, I need you to come and pick us up, Noel's injured" Hope spoke quickly and to the point,

Noel heard a faint buzzing which must've been Rina's reply, to which Hope smirked a little,

"No it's just his leg and it's not as if he'd been sapped of all his strength either" Hope replied, glaring at Noel with the last comment.

"Ok, see you in a few seconds" Hope finished after Rina had replied one last time. He tucked the phone away in his pocket, letting out a large sigh before absently looking down at the hunter between his legs.

Between his legs.

Noel.

Sat on, top of, Noel.

Hope felt heat rush his cheeks as he suddenly realised what he'd being doing so casually a few seconds ago was basically straddling the brunette. He knew his eyes were wide and his mouth had dropped open slightly as he felt shocked that he had so casually ended up in this intimate position. His eyes locked with Noels brown ones, which were looking up into Hopes just as shocked, presumably, as he was. Noel did look extremely enticing right now too, his cheeks were flushed from the exertion of fighting the behemoth, he was out of breath still too and his arms were pinned to the floor by Hopes grip around his wrists. He could feel Noels blood pulsing through his wrists on his fingertips; suddenly Hope felt incredibly hot;

"Uhh…hi Hope" Noel said quietly breaking his gaze with the other, just staring up at the other man, unsure of what was going to happen next,

"Hi Noel" Hope couldn't look away or think of anything other to say than repeat Noels dumb phrase right back to him, all he could think about right now was how perfectly kissable the brunette was looking right about now. He saw Noels tongue dart out to quickly lick his lips and his mind couldn't help wondering just what that kiss would taste like…

Noel meanwhile found himself being lost in Hopes gaze, he never expected Hope to climb on top of him, he had no idea the other could be so bold and he couldn't really explain what he felt, all he knew was that he couldn't look away, out of shock or fascination he wasn't sure why he couldn't. Not that he would want to…the way the dying sun in the sky was illuminating Hopes face in a way that made him much younger than his true age and Noel was finding his eyes were fixated on the other man. Maybe it was just because he had a handsome guy sat on his hips, who was pinning his wrists to the floor and Noel hadn't had even the slightest act of intimacy towards him in such a long time, but as Noel looked up at the man above him…he realised he found Hope quite attractive.

"WOAH, looks like things were hotting up around here!"

Rina's loud voice made both men almost jump out of their skin, as Hope quickly scrambled off Noel to sit by his side, remembering to still push Noel back down again as he hurriedly tried to stand up. If Hope had been red before, he was glow in the dark red now.

"R-rina, could you help me get Noel to the hovercraft?" Hope stammered, cringing like mad as he did so. Why did everything embarrassing always seem to happen to him? Noel looked up off the floor to Rina as he was being held down again. The weird and special moment they had been sharing had just been broken.

Rina looked from one man to the other, both wearing a similar guilty expression. She couldn't help but laugh,

"Ahaha, don't worry" she said, winking slightly at the two guys, and clicking her fingers,

"Your little secrets safe with me!" she promised to the two men who both suddenly started protesting at once. The pilot grinned to herself, walking over to help Hope carry Noel to the hovercraft, ignoring everything the pair were simultaneously yelling at her as she did so.

She helped both the men fit onto the hovercraft, all the while wordlessly nodding to the sound of their excuses. She'd seen it all before, in her best friend and in her work colleagues, she knew the first step was denial…either that or they really didn't want her to tell anyone. Either way, Rina ended their journey by promising she wouldn't speak a word to anyone.

* * *

The ride back was silent and by the time they had both arrived back at the group of hovercrafts, the other researchers had already set up all the tents and made a dinner for the others while they were waiting for them to return. Rather than continue into the night they thought that the place beneath the hill where they were waiting for Noel and Hope was a good place to set up camp and so they had done. The researchers, including Rina, had already eaten by the time Noel and Hope had arrived back in at the campsite, the pilot served them some rations before wishing them a good nights sleep, along with another embarrassing wink in Hopes direction, before vanishing off into her own tent.

The two quickly realised how hungry they were, forgetting momentarily about their close encounter, once they smelt the food that had been prepared for them, they ate it all as if they were competing to see who could finish first. After food had been digested the two made eye contact and remembered what he been making them so nervous before, both realising the situation, they forced awkward conversation for a while, neither of them mentioning anything to do with the compromising position they'd been caught in by Rina earlier, it was simply too embarrassing for them both and although the topic was avoided entirely it was still at the back of their minds and they both knew it. In an attempt to try and normalise the situation; Noel finally gave Hope permission to check on his leg underneath a torch so the medic could see more clearly. It turned out to be poison, nothing too extensive and Hope easily managed to cure it with his esuna magic. He was happy to waste such a strong spell on such a small injury, as long as he didn't have to get any closer to Noel, such as using a herbal rub or any kind of massage…he wasn't sure how much of his contact Noel would tolerate in one day.

And when the sun finally died in the sky, turning the world into darkness they both hastily agreed it was time for bed.

Surprisingly it took Hope a while to fall asleep, he was tossing and turning, worrying about how Noel thought about being casually pinned by him, if he'd completely blown his cover or had the evening sun managed to hide his flushed cheeks.

On his left, his right, on his back, he even tried curling up into a ball, before he decided sleep wasn't going to come to him too easily that night. How could he have allowed himself to do something so stupid around Noel? He knew he should've never left, it was always a bad idea to pair himself with Noel and only a handful of other individuals, he was bound to slip up at some point and reveal his true feelings. AND SO SOON ON THIS TRIP AS WELL. His brain was too busy thinking about pointless regrets again, if he were still back at the Headquarters he could use this time to do some further work or finish up on some filing he needed to do the next day. However he was stuck in a tent in the middle of Pulse with only a bunch of sleeping researchers and stubborn hunter for company.

He dreaded the fact he was going to have to be with Noel tomorrow, inevitably they were going to talk about the incident sooner or later. He hoped Noel wouldn't hate him for it. Hope pulled his covers in tight to his body, he was probably over-thinking it, Noel had probably brushed it off by now and forgotten about it. With that thought in mind Hope attempted to forget about his troubles too, slowly drifting into a deep sleep from exhaustion.

However Hopes presumption about Noel wasn't exactly correct, flashbacks of looking up at the other man kept moving through his mind every time he tried to fall asleep. And the worst part was he could feel himself becoming excited, butterflies were developing in his stomach when thoughts of how innocent Hope had been looking down at him, despite the fact he had been pinned to the floor.

The thoughts were driving him crazy and he tried to shut them out. It was selfish and wrong of him to think of his closest friend this way, how horrified would Hope be if he knew how badly he had wished for the silver-haired man to lean down and press his lips against his own- maybe even more-

Noel cringed, curling into a ball and rolling violently to lie with his back facing Hope. He'd never thought about Hope in such a way, much less been in a compromising position with him as they had been before and Noel promised himself he only felt this way because he'd been so long without with some kind of sexual contact. And he hoped to hell that the other wasn't going to bring it up tomorrow, he didn't want such a stupid incident to create further awkwardness between them. He found it hard to believe that it was only this morning he'd only been able to think about Serahs death and his crushing guilt, now that whole issue was clouded over by such a trivial thing such as this.

He desperately tried to forget about it, shove it to the corners of his mind and focus on what tomorrow would bring. In last ditch an attempt to take his mind off things he started going through all the monsters on Pulse he could remember to pass the time, mapping out their weak spots and basic movements in his mind.

Surprisingly it worked and he fell asleep whilst remembering the twentieth sub-species of flan, but he would only know it had worked one he woke up again the next day.

* * *

**A.N.:**

**"Let's go!", Hope said loudly*** -

I regret this cheesy line so much but I couldn't think of anything to replace it with :x If you think of anything please tell me so I can change it!

**Hope smiled, hopefully***

- I didn't even try to think of another word, I decided I couldn't avoid this from happening, so why fight it? HOPE CAN BE HOPEFUL DAMNIT! XD

I'M SO SORRY. I know this update is majorly over-due. I never should've even thought I could finish this fic in two weeks, jesus that was a little too optimistic...in fact screw that, WAY TOO OPTIMISTIC. But I'm glad I finished this chapter now! Phew another one out of the way ^-^

I'm not sure if this chapter maintained a sense of continuity from the old one...I tried as much as possible to maintain that balance but this chapter was getting too long, I had to cut out a scene at the end because I was only meant to have written half of what is here before I had reached it Also about Rina, I just made her up on the spot to fill the Alyssa-shaped void in the fic...I don't think I could write this with just Hope and Noel, it would get a bit dry, so she had to happen, as much as I hate the stereotypical peppy girl in slash fics who aids the two in finding their true feelings for each other. That said, I will try and keep her part to a bare minimum don't worry.

Hmmm well, reviews are always appreciated and thank you to everyone who has followed this story, if you're still reading this anyway...I'm not going to promise a particular date for this next chapter, whatever happens, happens, ok? Encourage me with reviews haha, I say it as a joke but it has actually worked before in the past. o: THANKS FOR READING! (Chapter may be subject to further editing, but I'll tell you in future chapters if that happens ¬w¬;;, thanks again for your patience)


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